Summer Activity Planning

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With summer fast approaching I’ve been working on getting a plan together to keep B from spending his days in front of the tv. As a working mom that works from home it’s important to me to have something for him to do so I can get my work done. Thinking this was only a working mom problem I asked some of my stay-at-home mom friends and found that they too are busy scheduling summer activities. Now when I say scheduling I don’t mean the over-scheduled, helicopter parenting type of thing. I just mean making sure you’ve signed up for camps your child is interested in attending, seeing which ones make sense to attend since you can’t be two places at once, etc. As a work at home mom I do feel like I need to plan ahead a bit more and I’m sharing what goes into my summer activity planning.

Summer Childcare

As a working mom childcare is something you’ve got to think about. Last year we chose to send B to a local daycare, Children’s Learning Adventure, that does field trips two days a week. While he is old enough to entertain himself so I can work it’s nice to be able to focus on my work without the occasional, “mom can I” interruptions. It’s also good for him to get out of the house and learn new things through the field trips the center takes them on. He loved it and would ask to stay longer whenever I picked him up early, which always makes a mom feel good- in that I’m glad you’re happy here but wish you were happier to see me sort of way. Childcare doesn’t have to be at a daycare. You could also hire an older child to come over and keep an eye on your kids. One of my friends paid a high school student her sons really looked up to, to come over a few days a week and do different sports training exercises with them. I thought this was a fantastic idea!

Activities

For the days that B stays home with me I like to plan a starter activity to get him outside. My office faces the driveway so he can play and do his activity while I work and watch from my office. I like to sit down with B to make a list of all the activities he would like to do over the summer. The ones he really enjoys usually get repeated. You can find a list of the activities I have planned in the calendar below and check out some pictures from last summer’s activities in this Summer Fun Activities post. I also take some days off during the summer to do fun things with B like visit the Children’s Museum.

Photo by Pine Cove

Camps

I’ve signed B up for a couple of day sports camps and a church camp. He’s not quite ready for a sleep away camp yet but I think those are great as well. Check your local school district’s website for camps they offer through athletic programs as well as local universities. B is doing a basketball camp at the high school and a soccer camp at the University of Houston. It’s always a good idea to sign up with friends so you can carpool. The church camp B is attending is Pine Cove Camp in the City. He went last year and had a blast. I really like that they focus on developing the children’s relationship with God and building character. They also bring in some really fun activities and the staff is made up of such energetic and wonderful college-aged role models.

Family Vacation

We don’t plan on taking a big vacation this summer since we plan on going to Kauai next summer, but I still think it’s important to schedule some time for us to get away together as a family without the distractions of work. The key is taking the time to plan and put something on the calendar or summer will be over before you know it.

Calendar

Here’s a look at B’s calendar for the summer. It includes all his camps & activities. I’ve also written down his daily/weekly TV, Video game and reading time. Click on the calendar to edit and print your own summer calendar.

The calendar is really just an outline. I know things will change and I fully expect that everything won’t go as planned. But for me it’s nice to at least have a plan to fall back on.

How do you plan for summer and what sort of activities do your kids enjoy?

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